original French
title MANON 70
[Manon '70]
director: Jean Aurel
starring: Catherine Deneuve
· Elsa
Martinelli
·
Sami
Frey · Jean-Claude Brialy
It's
a pop-art, swinging '60s modernization of the 18th Century novel
Manon Lescault by L'Abbé Prévost. The story
of a slut named Manon - forced to choose between love and luxury - transcends
nicely into mid-Twentieth Century France. And Ms Deneuve is astonishingly
radiant in the complicated Manon role, strongly assisted by the brilliant
Serge Gainsbourgh soundtrack.
For
this loose interpretation of the Prévost
story, the
central focus is on infidelity in relationships. Manon believes the
number of sexual encounters is unimportant, rather it's the number of
men she actually loves. This is a difficult concept to sell to her new
boyfriend who has a more traditional view of relationships, especially
when her brother ['the real of her life'] is pimping her to a parade
of wealthy johns. Schemes eventually unravel and Manon promises fidelity
but old habits die hard.
This was one in a series of early
career-building European films for Catherine Deneuve, preceded by Roman
Polanski's REPULSION
and Luis Buñuel's Belle De Jour, followed by Dino
Risi's horror movie LOST
SOULS before making the trek to Hollywood.
A
French film with English subtitles; widescreen format,
fully uncut, 105 minutes), DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT.
Extras includes selected trailers.
SemiNudity/Prostitution/Sexual
Situations
for Mature Audiences
It's
a pop-art, swinging '60s modernization of the 18th Century novel
Manon Lescault by L'Abbé Prévost. The story
of a slut named Manon - forced to choose between love and luxury - transcends
nicely into mid-Twentieth Century France. And Ms Deneuve is astonishingly
radiant in the complicated Manon role, strongly assisted by the brilliant
Serge Gainsbourgh soundtrack.
